Town Square

Increase in Crime in Palo Alto

Original post made
by Former Palo Alto Resident, another community,
on Apr 11, 2008

I am a former Palo Alto resident, and during the several years that I lived there (in the late 1990's and early 2000's) the only "crime" related incidents were mostly loud parties, unruly teenagers, or other minor incidents. Now, it seems like every time I check news in Palo Alto there is a new gun-related crime...it seems like this is a daily occurrence now.

Palo Alto is going downhill. It is turning into East Palo Alto. There are burglaries, crimes, guns, etc. and I would never feel safe living there again. Something needs to be done, and I think it must be drastic. There need to be security systems installed, many many more police officers on duty, and undercover police officers paroling the streets.

It makes me angry that such a great city is being targeted by criminals.

When the Council's attention is occupied by trendy issues that have nothing to do with local issues like Climate Change, it's no wonder the infrastructure is crumbling and criminals are running through our neighborhoods.

IT's time we elected people who are interested in filling potholes and making sure the streets are safe, rather than the loony environmental exibitionists and preening show-offs we have now. Running a city isn't supposed to be glamorous.

Posted by Resident
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Apr 11, 2008 at 3:42 pm

If we didn't pay for plaques and renaming City Hall Plaza, Lytton Plaza and any other cosmetics, there would be money to buy security cameras in areas like Midtown and downtown - areas where crime is happening. I don't want to live in an unsafe city and since I have nothing to hide, I don't mind being on camera doing it.

Get some cameras installed and stop wasting money on feel good issues.

Posted by Billy M
a resident of Green Acres
on Apr 11, 2008 at 7:04 pm

I think you people should chill out.

Sure we have a little crime in town, but the Council can't work on everything: they're concentrating on the important things that make a difference to the majority of citizens. Look at the evidence: just this week, they are spending lots of time trying to decide on the best way to ban plastic bags in town.

If the price of having a cutting-edge plastic bag policy that can be a model for the nation is a few armed robberies, I say it's worth it.

Posted by paul
a resident of Professorville
on Apr 11, 2008 at 7:33 pm

Another advantage of tolerating these armed robberies is that families will leave in droves leaving cheap real estate for old people on fixed incomes, even the vagrants will move one for better pickings.

The tax base will evaporate as business flees, the infrastructure will decay and PA will return to the pastoral bliss experienced by the peace loving Indians, maybe bears and wolves will return.

The aged greens and hippies will be in Bliss

Stanford will erect a huge fence to protect their investment, they are not stupid, with a private road to the airport.

Dont worry be happy, as The distinguished Rodney King said, " cannt we all get along"

The current City Council is a group of idealist dreamers. They are either clueless as to what is going on in our city or looking for global issues to further advance their political careers.
Let's give them a few more months to shape up and dump this 'civic engagement' baloney 'or else' and get the job done for which they were elected It was not to spend thousands on re-doing Lytton Plaza or putting in a $180K statue on California Avenue. My 80 year old Mom who used to take a walk everyday in Eleanor Park won't walk anywhere in the neighborhood anymore after the armed robbery on Harker a few weeks ago.

Posted by safer in sunnyvale
a resident of another community
on Apr 12, 2008 at 12:31 pm

I work in PA and live in Sunnyvale. It always seemed to me I should feel safer in PA than Sunnyvale but the opposite is true. I feel less comfortable walking the streets or leaving my car parked in PA than I do in Sunnyvale. I think Council or whomever needs to realize that having PA located so closely to EPA and other crime plauged areas means PA also will be plauged by crime. I'm thinking PA needs to worry less about libraries, plastic bags, and the like and focus more on putting more cops on the street.

I agree with all but what bothers me most is that we are all "talk, talk, talk" (including myself)and that is where it ends. I wish there would have been an easy (high tech) way to pass people's will to City Council and make them act accordingly.

Posted by just thinkin
a resident of Midtown
on Apr 14, 2008 at 2:14 pm

I like the camera idea.....we could hire many of the various unemployed types to watch the monitor for each camera 24/7 and catch everyone in the act for everything - including pets of leash, not scooping, kids peeing in parks, bikes running red lights and everything else. The wage involved would only be about $300 per day per camera. Of course we can afford that!!!

Posted by Nora Charles
a resident of Stanford
on Apr 17, 2008 at 5:51 pmNora Charles is a registered user.

It is alarming. Yet the council seems to ignore the vital issues of community safety. (Alas, as a Stanford resident I cannot vote for them.) Environmental issues are important, but, as they say, safety first. Plastic bags and public art (and I use that term loosely) can wait. Why not have cameras? Clearly there is not funding for adequate numbers of police, and they cannot be everywhere.